World | India
Nationalists revive flagging fortunes
A few months ago it was stuck in the doldrums, but now the nationalist opposition has emerged from state poll wins smelling blood as a ruling coalition limps from crisis to crisis before a likely 2009 election.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:52 February 1, 2008
New Delhi: A few months ago it was stuck in the doldrums, but now the nationalist opposition has emerged from state poll wins smelling blood as a ruling coalition limps from crisis to crisis before a likely 2009 election.
The new mood was evident at a national meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national council this week as party cadres united behind the new prime ministerial candidate, L.K Advani, a former hardliner who now cultivates a moderate image.
"The mood in the BJP is upbeat," the Times of India said in an editorial yesterday. "The cadre is gung-ho."
Obstacles remain for nationalists to regain the power they lost in 2004, not least a fear among many voters that the BJP, with its concept of "Hindutva" that sees India as more of a Hindu than secular nation, will inflame religious tensions.
India will see a slew of state elections this year, rehearsals for a general election that is likely to pit Congress against the BJP over who can better manage a trillion-dollar economy growing at about nine per cent a year. The BJP hopes to capitalise on signs that Congress' support may be weakening. While the economy has boomed, the government is perceived as having failed to include hundreds of millions of poor, shown little leadership and failed to push reforms.
Tensions
Chief Minister Narendra Modi's victory in December in Gujarat - one of the country's most developed states but also one racked with Hindu-Muslim tensions - has more than anything convinced the BJP that a national victory is now possible.
In speech after speech at the BJP meeting, one word - "Gujarat" - was heard over and over again.
"The BJP's victory has major nationwide significance," Advani told party followers.
A BJP national win could push India to a more pro-market agenda after years under Congress in which economic reforms have stagnated due to opposition from communist-led allies.
The BJP rose to prominence in the early 1990s on the back of a Hindu-revivalist movement, and ruled India from 1998 to 2004, moderating its hardline rhetoric in a bid to expand its base.
But its 2004 loss to Congress sparked years of infighting. Opinion polls last year showed Congress winning a snap election.
The BJP has now resolved its leadership issue. At the same time Congress has landed in trouble, its confidence eroded after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh retreated from a nuclear deal with the United States due to opposition from his leftist allies.
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